Haifa

Four Israeli Arabs from the Haifa area in northern Israel were given life sentences Friday for the 1982 rape and murder of a Jewish woman soldier. Kamel Sbechi and his brother Mohammed, their cousin Attaf Sbechi and Ahmed Kuzli had pleaded not guilty. A panel of three judges convicted them of the gang rape and murder of Dafna Carmon, 21, seized near her home on Haifa's Mount Carmel on June 11, 1982, five days after Israel's invasion of Lebanon.

Reporting from Jerusalem -- Israeli billionaire Sammy Ofer, whose powerful, family-owned conglomerate is under scrutiny for alleged dealings with Iran, died Friday in Tel Aviv after a long illness. He was 89. Considered Israel's richest man with a family fortune estimated by Forbes at $10.3 billion, Ofer and his brother, Yuli, built Ofer Bros. Group into Israel's biggest private enterprise, with interests in shipping, oil refineries, chemicals, semiconductors, banking and media. "Ofer was a Zionist through and through, and never forgot his commitment to others, even when he ascended to great heights," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Striking municipal workers blocked Haifa's traffic with garbage trucks and let raw sewage pour onto the beaches Thursday, the third day of their walkout. The 5,000 employees took the action after City Hall, $37.5 million in debt, failed to pay June salaries.

Two bombs exploded in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa on Sunday, wounding five people, police said. The first bomb went off under a market stall. Haifa police spokesman David Frankel said one person received moderate wounds and four others were slightly injured. About 10 minutes later a second bomb exploded a few hundred yards away on a downtown street but caused no casualties, Frankel said. Frankel said the bombs "appeared to be the work of terrorists."

An Israeli court Monday sentenced an immigrant from Yugoslavia to jail for spying for the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Haifa district court said that Victoria David, 34, should serve three years in jail with three more years under a suspended sentence. In exchange for dropping more serious charges, she pleaded guilty last month to giving information to an enemy, contact with an enemy and belonging to a banned organization.

Some Palestinians will be allowed to return to their jobs in Tel Aviv and Haifa next week, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced. The cities have been off-limits to Arabs from the Gaza Strip and West Bank since the occupied territories were placed under a curfew on Jan. 17 at the start of the Persian Gulf War. Palestinians reportedly will still be barred from Jerusalem.